Hey guys. It's been a while. I'd suggest maybe to reread the last chapter before this one.

Only if you want to. You don't have to. No pressure or anything.

Thank you.

Enjoy. :)

~Author does not own Labyrinth~

"Sarah, I think you should stay."

"I'll be okay, Karen. It's nothing I haven't come up against before."

"Yes, but this man - this Goblin King - sounds dangerous. He doesn't seem healthy to pursue you like this."

"I'm not sure if he's an unhealthy person. More like just really ambitious and spoiled."

Karen raised an eyebrow. "And that's healthy?"

Sarah pursed her lips and ducked her head. They both let out a little chuckle. "Yes, I guess you have a point there... But he's kind of growing on me. He's different." Sarah cut herself off before the conversation took a different turn.

It was odd discussing the labyrinth with her step-mother. Conversing about magic in the middle of Karen's and her father's pristine white kitchen. Nothing impractical had ever been discussed here. Her father had always been grounded in reality, but Karen took it to another level. She'd never liked to discuss theories or the possibility of 'what if'. It was always 'No, Sarah. What is.'

But here they are.

Her father had not been filled in. Hesitation prevented them from telling him. He would think that they had all lost their minds. Karen begged Sarah to stay later so that they could discuss these events long after everyone else had gone to bed.

"I just can't wrap my mind around this," Karen said after a minute. She pursed her lips with a perplexed scowl.

Sarah was glad her step-mother had chosen not to comment on her previous sentiment.

Karen was wrapped in a large robe that practically swallowed her figure, a mug of tea clasped in her hands. Her hair was still in an updo from hours earlier, but her makeup and earrings had been taken off. "The idea that there is another world out there - not just that, but magic?" she shrugged and then her demeanor changed. The lines around her eyes that were usually indiscernible tightened and her mouth turned down. Karen's shoulders dropped. She let out a shaky sigh.

Sarah surged forward in concern. "Karen?"

The older woman shook her head. "Who knew… Who knew, Sarah?" Her arched eyebrows furrowed together. "I had no idea what was going on with you all these years. You had always been so in your own little world... I was worried you were going to lose your head in it. Worried that you weren't grounded in reality. But-" She cleared her throat and straightened herself. When next she spoke her words were less shaky and emotional. However, her eyes still shown with the remnants of it. "-But you were in reality all along. Just in one that I knew nothing about. I'm sorry, Sarah. For the things that I said and the way I always tried to prod you towards what I thought was best for you. I'm sorry. And I'm sorry for this-" she motioned to herself and gave a nervous laugh. "I seem to get more and more emotional the older I get-"

Sarah interrupted and began to offer reassurance. "It's okay, Karen. I understand. I always did. Or at least I did after I grew up a little. I was spoiled. I idealized the wrong things and I was certainly not at all in the right for how I treated you. The labyrinth made me see how focused on myself I was. So... I understand. I tried to put myself in your shoes afterward."

Karen nodded. The silence between them stretched for a few moments. The older woman shifted. She placed her mug on the white countertop beside her. Then Karen suddenly pulled Sarah into a tight hug. A motherly hug. A kind that Sarah was not used to.

Sarah soaked it up knowing it would be a while before she got another one like it. Exchanges between them had always been tense, but Sarah had growing hope that things would change from here on out.

"Just know that I'm on your side. We all are. You can come to me if you need anything." Karen pulled away. "Or to just talk… And keep me posted on that pill of a Goblin King, please," she said. Her voice was stern despite her words and not at all a request.

Sarah laughed. "Yes, I will."

"Good." Karen's eyes fell on Sarah's hand. She frowned.

The splintered cut didn't look too bad, but Sarah found herself shielding it behind her back in defense. She didn't want Karen to dock too many points off of the Goblin King so soon. Although, Sarah didn't know why she cared so much what Karen thought of him… It wasn't as if she loved the Goblin King.

Granted that word had crossed her mind earlier. That was just a fluke, though. Nothing more.

"And apply some hydrogen peroxide to that nasty scrape on the back of your hand. You don't want to get some infection and turn into a goblin."

Sarah rolled her eyes. Sarah could tell that Karen was only half joking. Her real reserved, practical and business-like step-mother had abruptly returned. She nodded. "I don't think that's how it works, but I'll clean it. Don't worry."

"Good."

Karen reluctantly allowed Sarah to go home a few hours later, with a promise that Sarah had to call her in the morning. Sarah didn't think it would matter. It's not as if Karen could really help if the Goblin King did decide to whisk her away back to his world, but to keep the sudden peace between them, she agreed.

Once she was home she went straight to her bathroom to get ready for bed. Sarah brushed her hair and teeth. She even disinfected her cut. Part of her worried that maybe Karen was right about contracting a goblin werewolf-like disease. She chuckled to herself as the image of her skin turning green and her friends running away in terror. Perhaps, the Goblin King would not pester her so much.

Exhausted and wanted nothing more than to plop down and pass out on her comfy bed, she returned to her room.

Fate, however, had other plans.

Sarah opened her bedroom door, flicked on the light, and gasped.

"Gus," she hissed horrified. She felt as though someone had knocked the wind out of her.

Her bedroom was in a state that only a goblin could be responsible for. Or a toddler.

Sarah's green eyes scanned the room. Her dresser drawers were torn open. Its contents dispersed throughout the room. Sentimental objects lay smashed on the floor. Her clothes were torn apart by the seams. Long sleeves draped several feet away from the remaining pieces of her work shirts. Her high heels were chewed up, and her favorite pair of slippers were covered in a liquid that Sarah was certain she should be very offended by.

A stuffed animal that Toby had given her a few years ago had a gaping hole in the center of it. The stuffing was distributed all throughout the room. However, what horrified Sarah the most, her scrapbook laid in the center of the chaos. Pictures sprawled around it carelessly. It was open to a blank space.

A page was torn out.

A very important page.

She'd always had a little problem with her temper. There was only so long she could bottle it up. Sarah let out a frustrated scream that her teenage self would have been proud of. Although, at present, Sarah was too angry to be ashamed of it.

After all, everyone had their breaking point.

"I's work for Kingy now," Gus growled to himself. He didn't particularly care for the mortal girl or his King, but perhaps this little act of betrayal would win him the Goblin King's favor, and then everyone would just leave him alone.

"Kingy," Gus called down the empty halls of the castle. Odd, he thought. Usually, the King had his daily routine of pacing and brooding through the castle halls by now.

A goblin's head suddenly stuck out from one of the many large doorways. Bandages wrapped around it. A pair of broken glasses were tipped sideways on his nose.

"Gus?" The goblin said.

Gus greeted him excitedly. "Wiznic!"

He skipped down the hallway, waving a torn page from Sarah's scrapbook in the air. Gus skidded to a stop before the other goblin. "Where's Kingy?"

"Our most generous monarch?" Wiznic asked.

"Wha- uh, yes. Kingy." Gus scratched his head.

"I believe - the last I laid eyes on his remarkable visage - he was in the foulest mood. He is that way frequently, is he not? I think ennui has overcome him. Years of repeating the same routine have made our King dreadfully quick-tempered..." They were both silent for a moment. Gus's forehead wrinkled in concern. "Anyway," Wiznic pursed his green lips and abruptly clapped his gnarled goblin hands, "I believe he traveled to the land above to interrogate our beloved Ms. Sarah."

Gus blinked. He lifted a finger and used it to poke Wiznic's bandages. Wiznic winced and pushed the offending finger away.

"Whats happens to your brains?" Gus asked in an investigative tone.

Wiznic chuckled. "I think that cantankerous dwarf knocked some sense into me. I cannot believe how stupid I was before!" He exclaimed.

"Yous stoopider now." Gus wrinkled his nose. "I's don't likes you like this. Change it back."

Wiznic shrugged. "This is who I am now, Gus. I could never go back to how I used to be. I finally comprehend our King's frustration with our fellow citizens. Not to mention I finally understand the insults that he would hurl towards us!" Wiznic laughed, and as suddenly as it started, it died off. A look of realization lit up in his eyes, highlighted by his shattered glasses. "Oh," he said, remembering something that the King said last week. "That was actually quite offensive..."

Gus waved him off. "I needs yous to do somethings-"

"-I am a bit hurt, now." Wiznic's wallowing continued. His face was crestfallen.

"I needs to get this to Kingy." Gus held up the page to Wiznic.

Wiznic's eyes widened. The page shocked him out of self-pity. "Is that Ms. Sarah and His Majesty? Wherever did you find such a risque photo?"

"Lady drews it herself."

"Does the king know of this?"

"She tolds me to gives it to Kingy as a sur-surprise present," Gus lied.

Wiznic nodded. The goblin may have suddenly become an overnight genius, but he was still as gullible as the rest. Gus took comfort in this fact.

Wiznic pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. He leaned closer to study the details of the picture. "I believe I know just the way to present this gift to his majesty," Wiznic said after a moment.

"Hows?"

"Do you know Ms. Louise Bowelles?"

"Uh, the portraits painter Kingy hired?" Gus asked.

"The very one. I think she'll know just what to do with this picture," Wiznic said.

Gus gleamed. "Ohhhh, I likes this gen-geniu- smarts idea…"

"Why thank you."

"But I still miss when yous were stoopid."

Wiznic shrugged.

Then they both turned and skipped happily down the hall to fulfill their scheme.

Alrighty, guys. Let's get this ball rolling on this plot already, eh? It's taken longer than I thought it would to get to the apex of the story.

Anyway, Wiznic's Wise Words of the Day. Ignore the fact that the last time he broke down sobbing and couldn't say his line. He seems much more confident today. (He's prepared himself much more this time. He had the Goblin King boot him into the bog until he got it right. He is very smelly but please don't count that against him.)

And now, without further adieu, Wiznic's Wise Words of the Day!

*Microphone is held up to Wiznic. He straightens his tie and clears his throat.*

"When you do the right thing, you are doing that which is correct."

-Wiznic (circa 2018)

Fantabulous.

Everyone put your hands together for the epitome of goblin intelligence.

Thank you guys for your continued support. We're on this journey together, I guess. Since I have no idea where my mind will take me next, either. Please review, follow, and/or favorite!

*Plays Robin S - Show Me Love*